Monday, April 07, 2008

To Kill a Mockingbird

Game 7 - Red Sox

Blue Jays 7, Red Sox 4

Record: 3-4

Tomorrow afternoon, sometime around 2:10 p.m., Julio Lugo will hear his name announced over the public address system at Fenway Park, followed almost immediately by a cascade of sounds that rhyme with his surname. "Hey, cool", he'll think to himself, "They like me. They really like me." At which point Dustin Pedroia will turn to him and say, "Whatever, fuckstick. I know Kevin Youkilis. I bat in front of Kevin Youkilis. And you, sir, are no Kevin Youkilis."

And Pedroia will be right in more ways than one. Lugo's 3 errors yesterday are 3 more than Youkilis has made in his last 190+ games. Youkilis works counts with the zeal of a missionary and gets on base at a robust rate. Lugo swings and hacks like he's allergic to the chalk in the batter's box, and generally touches the bases only when he's turning two (and even then he's usually only in the neighborhood). And while Lugo and Youks will both hear a sonorous chorus of "ooooo"s tomorrow as the Sox finally return to Boston, only one of them should be happy about it.

As for yesterday's game, and the Sox' first 7, I'll once again cede the floor to young Mr. Pedroia, who said after his team's third consecutive loss, "“Yeah, we had to go to Japan and yeah, we had a 19-day road trip, but that’s the schedule, we have to accept it, no excuses. We played like shit for three games and got our asses kicked, how’s that?”

Misery Loves Company

First two, and now four avid baseball fans torture themselves by closely observing their favorite major league squads. Follow along as the Red Sox, Yankees, Mets and Phillies inflict pain and suffering on a daily basis, soothed only by great beer and rock 'n' roll. (The pain and suffering has been doled out in largely disproportionate measure since 2004.)